Dear Dawn
by Suki-Itami
Summary: It's been twenty years since Shuya Nanahara and Noriko Nakagawa escaped The Program, and their daughter is now attending Shiroiwa Junior High. Without any warning, her class gets dragged into The Program... Who will win?
1. Preface & Chapter 1

~Preface~

Is this all we're meant to do? Was this the purpose of our existence; to participate in The Program? This isn't…this can't be…

I glanced over as Daisuke stood up, ignoring the gunshot wound in his right shoulder. He screamed something inaudible at me and pointed his own gun at where I lay on the grass. I already had a wound in my left leg from my last scuffle, and I really didn't want another one.

As he looked as if he were about to kill me, I rolled ninety-degrees, ending up on my stomach, pointed my handgun at him, and pulled the trigger.

…

~Chapter 1~

I sighed as I stopped in front of the gate to Shiroiwa Junior High School, the school I will attend for just one more year before I move on to High School. The day was gloomy; there was a chill in the air, and it was drizzling. I hadn't grabbed my umbrella – I had seen no need to since it didn't look like the weather would be bad, even later on – so instead of waiting for my best friend by the gate, I went inside to the shoe lockers to wait.

I hadn't been in there but two minutes, long enough to change my shoes, when my best friend, Yasuhiro Watsuki, (Male Student Number 20), ran into the school with his pale blue umbrella.

As the other girls inspected him – mainly Kairi Kawai, (Female Student Number 10), our class president – I calmly walked over to him and said, "Morning Yasuhiro."

Yasuhiro flashed me a perfect smile as he closed and shook out his umbrella. "Morning Kirie." I returned the smile happily, almost melting at the sight of it.

Just because I said I wasn't inspecting him didn't mean I hadn't noticed before. Yasuhiro was five-foot, three-inches high with a pale, perfectly rounded face that complemented the only slight slant of his blue eyes and the brown tint in his otherwise short black hair. Though from a distance, he looked like a complete full-blooded Japanese male, even more so with his uniform on, this close up, one could see the little variations that made him half American.

Oh, yeah, I guess I should tell a little more about myself. My name is Kirie Nanahara, (Female Student Number 12), I am thirteen years old, and attend the same Junior High my parents attended; Shiroiwa Junior High. I'm four-foot, nine-inches high with long black hair set into a single braid at the back of my head. I have a rounded face with only slightly paled skin, and dark green eyes that Yasuhiro told me "works well with my complexion".

As we walked the familiar stairs to the second floor of the building to our class, Yasuhiro stretched his arms over his head and yawned. "Man, I can't wait to get home."

I chuckled a bit. "We just got here."

"Yeah, but tomorrow's Sunday. The faster we get out of here, the sooner the weekend comes." He winked at me and reached in his pocket. Before we entered the classroom, he grabbed my hand and pressed something into it. "And with any luck, we'll both be going here tomorrow."

As soon as I sat down at my desk, I looked at the piece of paper that he had put into my hand. At first I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the concert ticket, but after a moment, my brain processed it. The band name _Tohoshinki _was typed at the top of the ticket with the band members lined up under the name. He got tickets to go see Tohoshinki tomorrow! I looked back at Yasuhiro with my mouth hanging to the ground.

His only reply was to smile widely with pride and achievement. He mouthed, "Can you go?"

I nodded zombie-like to his question with my mouth still wide open. I only turned around and stuffed the ticket into the pocket of my skirt when the teacher, Ichigo Higurashi walked into the room. He looked tired and a little sick from what I could see, his skin was chalk white and there were dark spots under his eyes.

Regardless of him looking like that, he smiled like nothing was wrong. "Well, class, today we're going to be going on a study trip to Tokyo University."

Everyone started mumbling to each other that this was unexpected, and that it didn't make any sense. Honestly, it didn't; that was the first time a trip was ever announced to us so suddenly. And what's more, we're going all the way to Tokyo! There's no way that we're supposed to just go there on a study trip without expecting to have a change of clothes…or even a warning to our parents. Well, everyone else's parents, I'm an orphan living at a nearby orphanage – the same one my father stayed at when he was my age, as Ms. Anno has pointed out on several occasions.

"Um, Mr. Higurashi," Sakura Izanagi, (Female Student Number 6), raised her hand, "why are we suddenly going to Tokyo?"

"…Like I said, a study trip." He tried to continue smiling, but it was slightly failing.

"Last second?"

"Y-Yes." He chuckled half-heartedly. "Why are you worried?"

"Because," this time Kairi spoke up, "this is so…odd. It's not normal to spring things on us like this."

"W-Well—" Mr. Higurashi was interrupted by the door opening to another man poking his head in.

"Mr. Higurashi, please hurry. The bus is ready outside."

"Y-Yes." The man left. Mr. Higurashi turned back to us. "Well, let's go. The bus is waiting outside to take us to Tokyo."

"But, Mr. Higurashi," Kairi spoke again, "what about clothing? None of us have any spare clothes."

"We contacted your parents a short while ago, and they packed your bags for you." There were a few groans from the class. Of course I didn't groan, Ms. Anno would know exactly what to pack for me. "Let's go."

Slowly, we all rose from our seats and gathered our school bags. I waited for Yasuhiro, who then groaned once we were down the stairs and putting our other shoes back on. "Man, I hope we can sneak away long enough to get to that concert tomorrow…"

As I slipped my white and pink Nike's back on, I looked at him questioningly. "Where is the concert anyway?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I just know it's near Tokyo University. With any luck, we can get away unnoticed." He flashed me a smile again. "Hey, wanna sit together on the bus?"

I nodded twice. "Uh-huh!"

We walked out of Shiroiwa Junior High and towards the bus waiting to take us to Tokyo. As we were standing in a short line waiting to get on the bus, I looked back and saw multiple windows from classrooms lined with students, a few teachers even stood among them. Though I couldn't tell from if it was the same for the students on the second and third floors, I could see some of the first year girls crying as they watched us load the bus.

**40 Students Remaining**


	2. Chapter 2

~Chapter 2~

I looked over Yasuhiro's shoulder to see what he was looking at, but couldn't. "What're you reading so intensely?" We had been talking for a while – about half an hour – when he suddenly stopped talking and became preoccupied with something else.

Yasuhiro jumped when I asked him what he was reading. He flashed me a slight smile and showed a pamphlet for the Tohoshinki concert tomorrow. "It's says what they're playing. I had been meaning to read it, so I just opened it. It had a lot of stuff about other Tohoshinki events that I just kinda forgot about you. Sorry…?"

I sniffed, feigning hurt. "That's so mean…!" I turned away from him to hide the smile on my face. "I know I'm boring, but you didn't have to do **that**!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I heard him clap his hands together in a sincere apology. "I'll buy you a shirt tomorrow if you'll forgive me."

I changed the smile to a smirk and faced him again. "Make it a shirt and a soda, and you have a deal."

He smiled. "Deal!"

"Ew! I wouldn't fuck him if he was the last guy alive!" The shouting came from the front of the bus – me and Yasuhiro were situated nicely in the middle – where Yuki Oniki (Female Student Number 3), Kaori Inoue (Female Student Number 5), Misora Kitano (Female Student Number 8), and Izumi Kagami (Female Student Number 9) were sitting.

In a nutshell, they're the class sluts. Kaori has always been the leader of their group, I assume it was her who just yelled, and she's known for pimping them out for a few extra yen in her pocket. Whether Yuki, Misora, and Izumi are aware of why their friend keeps whoring them out, I don't know and don't care.

Even so, everyone has admitted that Kaori's group has the most attractive girls in our class. Yuki's fair skin, long jet black hair, and narrow russet red eyes always seem to attract any boy she wants. Misora's tanning-salon tanned skin, short brown hair, and narrow cat green eyes seem to bring around the men she ends up sleeping with. Izumi, though, dyes her shoulder-length hair bleach blonde and wears blue contacts to cover her black irises, and she wears a lot of make-up to cover her pale skin. Kaori herself has beautifully pampered skin with just a trace amount of make-up, long jet-black hair swept back into a ponytail, and narrow brown eyes. The guys who want Izumi always go through her before even talking to Izumi – no one knows why, and again, I don't really care.

"Kirie, Yasuhiro!" Our friends, Yuiko Hino (Female Student Number 19) and Takeshi Takaya (Male Student Number 12) sit down in the empty seats next to, and behind us. Yuiko takes the empty seat next to me, while Takeshi takes the one behind me.

"What's up, Yuiko?" I leaned over to look into the small bag she had brought over. Behind me, Yasuhiro began to talk with Takeshi.

She smiled and held out a bag of cupcakes. "I got bored last night and made some cupcakes. You want one?"

"Hell yeah!" We both laughed as she pulled a cupcake from the bag and handed it to me.

Yuiko was my only friend in this class who was a girl. She had pale skin, long dark brown hair, and narrow black eyes. She was always nice to me and Yasuhiro, and never anything else. And with Takeshi being her long-time boyfriend, she was the only girl in the class never hitting on Yasuhiro.

I sat on my knees in the seat and began to tell her about the Tohoshinki concert tomorrow – she couldn't get tickets, which sucked, it would've been awesome to go with her – as Yasuhiro and Takeshi's conversation got louder.

Takeshi wasn't a bad looking guy, short jet-black hair, narrow black eyes, and perfectly tanned skin made him one of the constant targets of Kaori's group. Fortunately, much like Yasuhiro, he knew better than to involve himself with them even before he began to date Yuiko.

"I'm always right," Yasuhiro argued.

Both Yuiko and myself looked over at the two boys, who were arguing over something or another. Takeshi crossed his arms over his chest. "No way! You can't be right if I'm right!"

I sighed while Yuiko giggled. This was a constant thing between those two even though they were friends. She held out the bag of cupcakes and offered them some as a peace treaty. The boys immediately forgot about whatever they were arguing about and took each took a cupcake.

"So, Kirie," I looked back at Takeshi, "I hear Yasuhiro is taking you to see that Tohoshinki concert tomorrow."

"Yeah…?" Something told me I didn't want to know what he was getting at.

"So, are you finally going to admit that you love each other, date, and then screw so that me and Yuiko don't have to watch you two make goo-goo eyes at each other?"

"What?" Not again…!

"Takeshi!" Yuiko rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"What? I'm serious!" He threw his hands up as if showing how serious he was.

Yasuhiro reached over and smacked Takeshi over the back of the head. "Shut up!"

"Ow! Dude, what was that for?" Takeshi rubbed the back of his head where Yasuhiro hit it.

"For being an ass."

Yuiko giggled a bit and then yawned. She gave me and Yasuhiro one more cupcake before dragging Takeshi back to the back of the bus while saying something about a nap.

I chuckled as I bit into the cupcake. "Wow, he really does make wild assumptions, doesn't he…?"

Yasuhiro yawned, "He does."

…

A few hours on the bus had me falling asleep on Yasuhiro's shoulder as everyone else around us was either falling asleep or was asleep. I snuggled into his arm and relaxed to take a nap. I had no idea what time it was seeing as we were in tunnel, but it had to be pretty late if we were all this tired.

Yasuhiro suddenly took a deep relaxing breath and then jerked up to a standing position. I looked up at him through tired eyes as he struggled to pull the window down with no luck. I was about to ask him what he was doing when he just as suddenly plopped back down into his seat and said, "Fuck."

With little more thought about that, I dropped my head back on his shoulder and fell asleep.

…

I woke up whenever I felt someone shaking my shoulder roughly. I sat up slowly, holding my throbbing head. Great, a headache!

I blinked a few times and looked down at the desk I'm seated at, completely confused for a few moments. I looked up at the person holding my shoulder and see Yasuhiro standing there with a thin silver collar around his neck, and a look on his face that was both terrified and sad.

"Yasu—"

"Kirie, I'm so sorry." He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. "I couldn't prevent this no matter how hard I tried."

"What're you—"

"Sit down!" The door of the classroom slid open loudly as a woman walked in wearing almost business-like attire. Black silk pants, a red silk blouse, and black pumps. Her long black hair was in a bun at the top of her head. Behind her ran in fifteen soldiers.

At the sight of the soldiers, everyone who had been standing, talking to friend or whatever, went back to the seats they sat back in our classroom.

"My name is Miaka Sakamochi," the woman announced, "and I am your new instructor."

Somewhere behind me, someone raised their hand. Sakamochi pointed to them. "Yes?"

"Where is Higurashi-Sensei?" I knew that high-pitched voice without needing to look back; it was Yuu Goshima (Female Student Number 17). Even so, I looked back at her to see her long black hair frizzed out, her green eyes full of confusion, her pale skin even paler than usual, and the same metal collar around her neck as everyone else.

Sakamochi waved her hand in front of her face as if that were a pointless question. "Ichigo Higurashi is…tied up right now. I promise you'll see him later."

In the seat in front of me, Takeshi raised his hand. Sakamochi acknowledged him, and he stood up to ask a question. "Sakamochi-Sensei, could you explain why we're here? We believed this to be a study trip."

She smiled wickedly. "Why, of course, I can. Your class has been—" She stopped talking when one of the male students ran up to the front of the class with his fist raised. It was only whenever the soldiers restrained him that I could see it was Yasuhiro.

"You bitch!" He struggled against the soldiers, trying to get to Sakamochi, but failing.

Strangely enough, she seemed…amused, in a word, by his behavior. Her smile had suddenly gone from wicked to pleased almost. "Well, well, I didn't expect to see you ever again."

"Yasuhiro?" I stood up and just looked at him; unable to believe the rage he seemed to have for Sakamochi. "What're you doing?"

"Let us go!" He still struggled. "Take us back to Shiroiwa!"

"Sorry, Watsuki, but I can't do that." She scratched the back of her head resignedly. "I should probably suggest that we don't put the class in the lottery that we sent the last winner to. This just makes things unfair."

"What're you talking about?" Everyone looked at me when I demanded to know – I never really was social in any meaning of the word during class.

Sakamochi glared at me. "Sit down! You did not raise your hand, and I did not acknowledge you!"

Even if she hadn't told me to sit down, I would've. Her glare was more than enough to send chills down my spine. Without another mumbled word, I sat down in my seat.

One of the soldiers grabbed Yasuhiro's arm and twisted it around, turning him towards the rest of the class before pushing him back in the direction of his seat. With a growl, he walked back to his seat and sat down.

"Now that I'm sure I have everyone's attention, I believe I will take any questions at this time," Sakamochi said calmly.

I looked around and saw that Kyo Aramaki (Male Student Number 2) had his hand raised. He was a bookworm-y kind of guy, with pasty pale skin, bowl cut black hair, narrow black eyes, and horn-rimmed glasses that looked just plain out terrible on his face.

She acknowledged him, and he stood up. "Sakamochi-Sensei, what are we doing here? Is there a lesson, or something?"

"Ah, yes." She turned towards the chalkboard behind her. "This **is** a 'study trip' after all, so there must be a lesson." She grabbed the chalk. "Today's lesson is," she wrote something and down and moved out of the way so that she could read what she wrote while we read it, "you have to kill each other."

The room went dead silent, people – myself included – even stopped breathing when we heard those words. Sakamochi acknowledged someone else behind me who had raised their hand. I looked back to see that it was Ryoko Mitsuki (Female Student Number 16). She had long hair pulled back into a long ponytail, narrow black eyes, and pale white skin.

"Kill each other? I don't understand. How is that a lesson?"

Sakamochi sighed and shook her head before hauling herself onto the desk at the front of the room. "Useless kids," she mumbled. She looked at us seriously. "Have you ever heard of the 'BR Act'?" She looked around for a moment and then sighed again. "In a nutshell: a generation ago, junior high school students boycotted school when unemployment was at an all-time high. The older generation feared the younger, stronger populace, and therefore passed this act. Of course, now that I think about it, you probably know this act by a different name." She smiled wickedly again. "How about…The Program…?"

My eyes went wide at the sound of those words. Behind me, a group of girls screamed.

**40 Students Remaining**


	3. Chapter 3: Day One

~Chapter 3~

The Program? What was this, some kind of sick joke? Yeah, I'd seen on TV where classes have been picked and the blood-soaked winner comes out of it to be interviewed for the media, but I never thought that our class would be chosen. Just thinking about it made my stomach turn.

"Sakamochi-Sensei?" Chiaki Shimizu (Female Student Number 11) stood up. From behind, I could see her long, dark brown hair, but I knew that she also had dark blue eyes and fair skin.

"Yes?" Sakamochi looked at Chiaki.

"Is this…for real? I mean, this isn't some kind of cruel, sick joke, is it?"

"I'm afraid not." She leaned against the chalkboard next to where she wrote, "you have to kill each other." "Class B is truly part of The Program."

I took a breath and raised my hand. When Sakamochi acknowledged me, I stood up. "How were we chosen?"

"Impartial lottery."

I sat back down. Lottery? The word made it sound like it was a good thing we were chosen, like we won something. (Hello, we're from the government. Class B, you have won, by lottery, the chance to participate in The Program! Congratulations!) How wrong of a word to use.

"What is it?" Sakamochi pointed to someone behind me.

I looked back and saw Sora Motosuwa (Male Student Number 15) stand up. He had short black hair and narrow black eyes that contrasted greatly with his pale skin. "You said we were chosen by impartial lottery, right?" She nodded. "Then what was it you said about classes with last years winner in them?"

She smirked. "I think that surprise should be saved for later, though I am sure you can figure it out." She motioned for no more questions. "Now that questions are out of the way, let's move on to the next part: rules. Now, I know everyone hates rules, but there really are none. I just need to explain a few things, in all honesty."

She pulled a small black handgun from the back of her skirt and shot Yumi Takamura (Female Student Number 4) in the forehead. The front of Yumi's once perfect, pale face split open and gave way to blood and gray matter that I could only assume was her brains. She fell to the left out of her seat; her long black hair twisted around her head, as if trying to hide the deadly wound.

A lot of us screamed once this happened. I heard a few seats scrape against the floor as some students tried to back away from the corpse of Yumi.

Sakamochi sighed and returned the gun to the back of her skirt. "I don't give warnings, so I'll say this only once: no whispering." The boy in front of Yumi, Raito Sakaki (Male Student Number 4), paled. He must've been the one she was whispering to. He had black hair, tipped blood red, tanned skin, and light blue eyes. He also had a silver nose piercing, just a small stud, (he always bragged about how he was going to one day get a large ring for it).

"Anyway, before I was interrupted, I was going to say: This game is really simple. You have three days for a winner to emerge from the carnage. If there is more than one student left at the end of the three days, those collars around your necks," I fingered mine – as I saw others doing – when she mentioned it, "will explode." A few gasps came from around the room. "Also, I will be making announcements every six hours, four times a day – at six and twelve – to tell everyone who has been killed, and where forbidden zones on the island are. If you are caught in one of these zones, the collar will explode. That collar also monitors your pulse, so we'll know if you're dead or not."

Sakamochi turned around and drew a rough sketch of the island we were on above where she wrote earlier. She drew lines through it like a grid. "Now," she turned back to us, "this is a rough depiction of the island, there are government battle ships stationed all around it, so there will be no chance for any possible escape. Another thing," she drew an X through a middle square, "this school will be a forbidden zone ten minutes after all of you have left.

"Moving on." She nodded at a soldier, who opened the door for two others who wheeled in carts that had dark green packs resting on them. "Every minute, I will call up someone according to your class number. When I do, run up here and grab a bag, any bag, and run outside to begin. Each bag contains, water, bread, a watch, a flashlight, a compass, a map, a pen, a list of your classmates, and a random weapon. This can be anything from a simple fan to a machine gun; it's just luck that determines what you get. There are also feminine products in each bag for the females. Guys, feel free to throw these things out.

"Now, any questions?"

The room was dead silent: no one knew what to say, if anything at all. Yumi's body was beginning to give off the foal stench of death. It was making me gag.

"Okay then. I'll start from the front of the class." She grabbed a piece of paper off of the podium at the front of the room. "Male number one: Daisuke Arakawa."

He stood up mechanically and ran to grab a pack, his light brown hair floating behind him, before running into the hall and out of the school.

After a minute, Sakamochi said, "Female number one: Mamori Amano."

She bolted from her seat and grabbed a bag before I could really register she was standing. Mamori was gone from the room faster than Daisuke had gone.

"Male number two: Kyo Aramaki." And so she continued in that way – skipping Yumi Takamura, and going straight to Hideaki Sugimura (Male Student Number 5) when she came to the deceased girl – until she came to Takeshi. "Male number twelve: Takeshi Takaya."

Takeshi stood up and turned to me. He bent down and whispered, "I will wait for you, Yasuhiro, and Yuiko in the bushes or trees outside."

"Takeshi!" Sakamochi reached for her gun.

"I'm coming." He ran and grabbed his bag before bolting it outside.

When she looked at my name, though, she smiled almost sadistically, as if it were a cruel joke. "Female number twelve: Kirie…Nanahara."

I stood up slowly, afraid that the way she said that was bad, but instead of panicking and staying frozen, I ran as fast as I could and grabbed a bag before running down the hall and outside. Once outside, I could see the bushes in front of me, and knew that Takeshi was waiting there. I ran for them and dove into their shelter.

I still had fourteen minutes before Yuiko came out, and fifteen until Yasuhiro came out – unless someone else whispered between now and then. If I could find Takeshi back here before then, we'll be able to wait for them together. Hopefully, no one who wants to participate in this insanity will come by and kill me before then.

"Takeshi," I yelled softly as I moved forward, deeper into the bushes, and further away from the school. "Where are you?"

Almost thirteen minutes passed before I found him, mostly because I had to keep stopping when someone ran by, and I suddenly wanted to turn around so that Yuiko wouldn't find this. There was a short dagger with a wooden handle shoved into his chest where his heart was, and the open wound was pumping blood vigorously. His eyes were open, staring in silent horror at the night sky beyond the treetops. His bag lay open beside him; someone had taken his water, bread, and weapon, and left the rest.

After a moment to let the scene sink into my brain, and to allow the urge to sob pass me by, I turned around and ran back to in front of the school. The person who had killed Takeshi was probably long gone, but I had to lead Yuiko from this area. He wouldn't want her to see him like that.

Just as I got back to the edge of the bushes, Yuiko ran out of the school. I stood up. "Yuiko, over here! It's me, Kirie!"

Yuiko looked over and ran to me, gripping the sleeves of my school uniform. "Kirie! Where's Takeshi?"

"I…I don't know. He must've been chased away." I pulled her down so that the shadows would hide us. "Let's go. If we run, we might catch him."

"What about Yasuhiro?"

"We'll find him again." I grabbed her hand and started pulling her to my right.

We stayed low as we ran, making sure to stay to the shadows. I didn't know why, but after that minute passed after Yuiko ran out, I urged her on faster. For some reason, I didn't like the thought of Yasuhiro following us, so we ran until we got to the beach. Once there, I convinced Yuiko to hide in a cave that I found no one else in until morning.

**38 Students Remaining**

_Dead:_

_F#4: Yumi Takamura_

_M#12: Takeshi Takaya_


	4. Chapter 4

~Chapter 4~

_~Kosuke Inoue (Male Student Number 9) POV~_

I slumped down onto the boulder I climbed on top of on the southern beach. The Colt .45 in my left hand wasn't mine to begin with; I stole it from Takeshi Takaya using the dagger that had been in my bag. At first, I was unsure if I would be able to kill him for the chance to have a better weapon, but ended up doing it before I realized it.

Having Yumi shot right in front of my eyes had been terrifying, but it convinced me that this situation was real. No one in an imaginary world bleeds like that. When the rules were explained, I knew that I had to kill to survive this insanity. It's not like there weren't people in my class I wouldn't kill anyway.

"Who's up there?" I turned around at the sound of the small voice, and found myself pointing my gun at Tsubaki Takada (Female Student Number 13). Her dark green eyes held fear, though her black hair swept into two perfect pigtails showed otherwise. Though that wasn't my concern. My eyes came to rest on the semi automatic rifle she carried in her right hand – with some difficulty, it seemed.

When she saw me, she smiled and threw her weapon to the side. "Kosuke, it's me, Tsubaki!"

My brown eyes narrowed at her happy tone. I'd known for a long time that she had a crush on me, but stayed away from me because of my twin sister, Kaori Inoue's reputation. Unfortunately, me being her crush wasn't any concern or matter of mine. "I know it's you, Tsubaki."

"Great!" She made a move towards the boulder and I cocked my gun, causing her to freeze.

"Don't move."

"K-Kosuke? What're you doing? You can trust me!"

"Can I?" I sighed heavily. "This…game, as Sakamochi-Sensei called it, is life or death. You could get me killed."

"I won't!"

"I don't know that."

"You…You won't be able to kill me anyway!" It seemed as if she were challenging me now. "I know you, you're a big teddy—" I fired a warning shot at her feet. She jumped in surprise.

"I'm not a big teddy bear. I killed Takeshi Takaya for this gun."

"Takeshi? Why did you kill him?"

"He had a better weapon, and I wanted it. I'm not dying on this island, Tsubaki. But if you don't get lost, you are."

"Kosuke…" She took a step towards the boulder, as if to climb it.

Without thinking, I pulled the trigger, aiming at her chest. There was a _thud _and a short scream before she fell to the sand below her feet. Whether or not she was killed instantly, I couldn't tell. Regardless, she'd be dead soon if she didn't die right then.

"Kosuke?" I didn't have to look to recognize the voice. It was Kaori, and she sounded horrified.

"Hey Kaori." I waved at her with my gun hand.

"What did…Why did you kill her?"

I jumped down off of the boulder, standing next to Tsubaki's body. "She could've been a threat. As I told her, I'm not dying on this island."

Kaori came out of shadows with a silver broadsword held out in front of her with both hands. "I can't believe…I just can't believe…"

"What? That I killed two people?" I shook my head. "How hard is it to sleep with older men, Kaori?"

Her eyes grew wide with shock. "That has nothing to do with—"

"It's just like killing. You can sleep with an older man without thought, and I can kill for my own survival without thought." I smirked and pointed the Colt .45 at her. "And that means killing you as well, sister."

"You can't kill me!" She pleaded, fear growing ever more in her eyes and voice. "I'm your own sister!"

"You're a slut."

Apparently that gave her the reason to run at me with her sword ready to strike, because she did. Taking only a step back, I extended my arm out and pulled the trigger. Even though she was hit in the shoulder, she kept running at me once she recovered from stumbling just a bit.

"Shit!" I stepped back a few more steps and shot at her again, this time hitting her in the stomach.

With that shot, she doubled over and fell down. As I walked over to her, she looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said, "Why?" Without answering, I shot her at point-blank range in the forehead.

_~Tohru Kiryu (Male Student Number 17) POV~_

As I heard the first shots ring out, I looked at the watch that I found in my bag laying next to my supplied weapon – five pairs of throwing knives. It read 5:30 am. It had been an hour since the last student in our class, Misaki Yamamoto (Female Student Number 20) had been released. In only half an hour, the first announcement was to be made, and everyone would know who fell to those gunshots.

I wiped my muddy, trembling hands off on my still clean white uniform shirt. My uniform jacket hung off of a sturdy bush branch next to me; I had fallen in a mud puddle while running away from the school and decided that I could hang my jacket up until morning. For now, as it dried, I sat with my legs pulled up to my chest and my arms wrapped around them.

I was scared out of my mind, not sure if I would be able to kill anyone at all, but not wanting to be killed. What could I do? All I was, was a normal junior high third year student preparing for entrance exams. I wasn't planning on going to any prestigious high school, but I was going to go somewhere, anywhere I could get into. Never once had the thought of killing, or even injuring anyone come to mind.

_I can't kill anybody, who am I kidding…? _I sighed heavily and buried my face into my knees.

A rustle in the bushes caught my attention, and I snapped my head back up. I grabbed three of the throwing knives – even though I had no idea how to use them – and prepared to defend myself. I might not be able to kill them, but I sure as hell can buy enough time to run away.

There was the sound of a string vibrating, and I had just enough time left to see a silver tipped arrow flying at me before everything went black.

_~Kirie Nanahara (Female Student Number 12) POV~_

Slowly, I opened my eyes as I heard the familiar sound of Bach playing over a PA system. At the sound of it, I looked at the watch I pulled out of my bag last night and saw the time was 6 am. I shook Yuiko awake beside me and got her to come outside. It was time for the first announcement.

"Good morning everyone!" Sakamochi's voice rang out loud and clear over Bach's elegant chords, everyone on the island probably heard her. "I must say that I'm proud of you for getting right down to business, and not wasting anytime waiting for someone to come along and kill you first. Great job!" Ugh, that tone made me wanna throw up.

"Now, for the first list of your deceased classmates. First, the girls: Number five, Kaori Inoue, and number thirteen, Tsubaki Takada." Both me and Yuiko marked off their names – we had marked off Yumi's name last night. "The boys: Number twelve," Yuiko froze, "Takeshi Takaya, and number seventeen, Tohru Kiryu. Total of four." Slowly, I marked off Takeshi's name after I marked off Tohru's.

"Now, for the forbidden zones: At seven, A-7. At nine, E-3. And at eleven, H-9." I marked off the zones for both of our maps, seeing as Yuiko was still frozen with shock. "Losing friends is hard, but keep at it. Besides, most of you will be reunited with them in the very near future. Until noon."

I threw Yuiko's map into her bag and grabbed her arm. "Come on, this place will be a forbidden zone in an hour. We should head west, there's a shrine that no one else is probably going to go near."

"Takeshi…" Her head was bent, and her shoulders were heaving; she was sobbing.

I bit my bottom lip and pulled her to her feet. "Come on, Yuiko. Whenever we get to the shrine, you can mourn. I will too. But Takeshi would want you to get out of this area first."

Slowly, she nodded and picked up her bag. Within a few moments, we were running west, towards the shrine.

**35 Students Remaining**

_Dead:_

_F#13: Tsubaki Takada_

_F#5: Kaori Inoue_

_M#17: Tohru Kiryu_


	5. Chapter 5

~Chapter 5~

_~Izumi Kagami (Female Student Number 9) POV~_

Fuck. Shit. Dammit.

Why the hell were we chosen for this bullshit? Really, I mean, this was just plain out bullshit. I had been hoping to meet up with Kaori, Yuki, and Misora, but it looks like Kaori's dead. She was probably one of the ones who died due to those gunshots a few hours ago.

Well, with Kaori dead, I had nothing tying me to Yuki and Misora, but they had always liked me even though I didn't really like them. They allowed Kaori to whore them out without even demanding part of the money, whereas I got fifty percent of whatever was paid to Kaori for me. Their stupidity was what made me hate them; they probably weren't even aware they were being whored out, they probably thought that Kaori was being nice in helping them get laid.

Even though I hated them, I had to find them. Knowing them, they probably slept through the announcement earlier, and are somewhere together, crying. But I don't care about that, the only reason I'm going to them is because they're naïve enough to allow me near them, even though I'm using my supplied weapon, a spear that came in pieces, as a walking stick. Not the best weapon, I have to admit, but it would be effective until I could get a gun.

I turned into a thick forest area to see if Yuki and Misora were hiding back there, but trip on a log and into the dirt. As I tried to stand back up, I felt cold metal against the back of my neck, and I froze. Being a whore, and being with people with odd fetishes, I had gotten used to various feels against my skin, and this one was familiar. It was the barrel of a gun.

"Move and I'll blast your head off," the girl holding the gun to my neck said with a slight tremble in her voice. And that voice was one I'd know anywhere.

"Y-Yuki, is that you?" I decided to add a slight tremble to my own voice for good measure. Make it seem like I'm scared too, and she'll trust me.

"…I…Izumi?" She pulled the gun away from my neck, and I turned around. There were tears in her eyes, as if she were relieved that it was me. "Izumi!" She looked off to the side. "It's okay, Misora, it's Izumi. You can come out now."

Misora stepped out from behind a tree with a double-barrel shotgun held tightly in her hands. So tight, in fact, that her knuckles were pale white. She was more scared than Yuki was. "Izumi!" Her eyes welled up with tears; she too was relieved to see me.

"Misora!" I smiled just slightly and dropped my spear to give them both hugs with my now trembling arms. Kaori's twin brother, Kosuke, had taught me to act – he really was a genius of drama, and for each lesson he gave me, I always gave him a quickie. Honestly, he wasn't all that bad. Anyway, back to the matter at hand…

I sniffed as I used my spear to stand back up slowly. "K-Kaori's dead…" I really was sad about my best friend's death, so I didn't have to act all that much to convince them that I thought it was a tragedy she died.

"Yeah…" Misora looked at the ground between us sadly. Yuki looked sad, but kept looking around for any "danger." She had no idea that the danger was right in front of her.

"We can mourn for Kaori's death later," Yuki said softly, "for now, we have to be on the look out."

"R-Right." Misora nodded and looked at my weapon. "Wow, that kinda sucks."

I looked at my spear; it wasn't too bad of a weapon, though I would prefer a gun. "Yeah, it does. I don't how to use it as a weapon, so I've been using it as a walking stick."

"Good thinking," Misora said with a smile.

Yuki sighed and faced us as she wiped the tears she shed at the sight of me with the back of her hand. In her other, she still held the small handgun. "I'll be on first watch. Izumi, Misora, you two get some rest."

"Sounds good," I said with a slight nod. I didn't yawn; there was no point to it. Where Yuki went to watch for any danger, she couldn't really see Misora or me; then again, Misora did have the shotgun. They probably felt she could make more use of it while Yuki was on watch. "So, have you two been together since the beginning?"

"Yeah." Misora nodded. "We just happened to cross paths." She yawned and laid down with the shotgun in her arms. Well, that's going to make things a little more difficult. "Neither of us have slept since, so it was a good thing you came along. With three people here, two can stay awake, while the other sleeps. I hope you don't mind that I—"

"No, it's fine. I slept up until the announcement this morning."

"Okay." Within a few minutes, Misora was fast asleep.

After taking a minute to make sure no one was around to ruin my fun, I stood up and walked over to where Yuki was on watch. When I approached her, she whipped around and pointed her gun at me again.

"Again? I'm not the enemy, Yuki," I said with a chuckle.

She sighed and scratched the back of her head. "Sorry Izumi. I haven't gotten any sleep since we were on the bus. I guess I'm a little jumpy."

"Yeah, Misora said you two haven't slept at all." I leaned against the tree she was sitting under.

"Where is she now?"

"Sleeping. Don't worry, she'll be fine for a few minutes."

"Yeah, I know." Yuki sighed deeply. "Why is it that I've trusted you all this time?"

"Huh?" I was genuinely confused; I had never given her a reason not to trust me.

"Well, I mean, generally, whores don't trust other whores, right?"

"Um…actually, I think they do trust each other. Pimps like Kaori, who was so generous to us, are rare."

"True…" She sighed again. "I don't know. I just feel like I shouldn't trust you for some reason."

I chuckled. "I think your brain's going into overdrive because of the situation. You can trust me." Lie. Big fat lie. I was trying to give her a false sense of security so that killing her would be relatively easy. And then I could take Misora, and plot out her death.

She chuckled too. "You're right, I'm overreacting."

"Exactly."

"You know, when I heard those gunshots, my first thought was that I hoped neither you or Kaori fell to them. And, then, on the announcement, whenever her name was read off, my first thought was 'I hope Izumi didn't kill her.' Stupid, huh?" She giggled. "I mean, you have a spear, not a gun."

Okay, that was below the belt! Time for her to die! I stood up and faced her with fake rage-induced tears going down my cheeks. "I would never kill my best friend! How could you say that?"

"Look, I'm sorry." Suddenly, Yuki's eyes filled with fear and pain as my spear plunged through her stomach. "W-What?"

"I'm below killing my best friend, but you are nothing to me." I looked at her and wiped the tears out of my eyes.

"I-Izumi? What is this?"

"Your death. Didn't take me long to plan it out, but even so, I won't kill Misora like this. It'll take something else, I'm not one for repeating my actions."

"Y-You," she coughed off some blood, "bitch!"

"Thank you." I twisted the spear, causing her to scream loud enough to wake Misora, who was asking what was wrong. "Damn."

At one last attempt to probably save Misora's life, Yuki pointed her handgun at my chest. "Die, murderer." She pulled the trigger.

_~Hideaki Sugimura (Male Student Number 5) POV~_

I jumped awake from the catnap I was taking as I heard a scream followed by a gunshot. It wasn't far away, probably just over in the next sector, but I wasn't going to go over there. Whoever shot that gun was probably still over there, and I wasn't taking any chances with that. After all, my weapon was a Geisha fan.

"I am the most unlucky son-of-a-bitch I know." I sighed and leaned back against the tree I had been napping against. "But, I do need to move."

With more effort than I wanted to give, I stood up and grabbed my pack. As I walked, I looked at the government-supplied map, and saw a residential area just east of where I was – the opposite direction of those shots. Bunkering down in one of those houses would probably be a good idea in order to get some food, plus I could probably steal a butcher's knife to use for a weapon as opposed to the fan. I could probably even head over to the clinic once I'm done at the house. The best way to survive would be to gather medicine in case I was injured.

As I entered the residential area five minutes later, I noticed someone moving in the shadows. He wasn't quick at moving away from my sight once he noticed me, so it was easy to notice who it was. It was Kyo Aramaki, a friend of mine. We weren't close or anything, but I definitely trusted him. He wasn't the type who would be sucked into this madness, he was more of a pacifist, I believe.

"Kyo!" I ran towards where he disappeared into the shadows. "Hey Kyo! It's Hideaki!" I reached the space between the houses where he disappeared and looked in, seeing his outline against the contrasting light. "Kyo?"

"Hi…Hide…aki?" He sounded scared; his voice was trembling.

"Yeah, it's me. Hideaki Sugimura."

"You…have a weapon…with you?"

"Of course, but it's—"

I was cut off as he came running out of the space yelling, a switchblade poised to strike. At the last moment, I moved out of the way, hitting my back against a house's concrete wall. It hurt a little, but I wasn't concerned with that right now. Kyo just tried to kill me!

"K-Kyo?" I held my hands in the air whenever he looked back at me with wild eyes. "Look, I don't have it in my hands. And, besides, my weapon's a—"

"Shut up!" He ran at me again, this time faster. Without enough time to move, I held up my hands to prevent him from getting my chest or face. As he tried to bring the blade down past the hand blocking my chest, I caught it, cutting open my hands. "I'm going to survive this! I'm going to see my family again!"

"Listen to me, Kyo, you can trust me!" I knew it was futile, but I had to try to reason with him, he was my friend. "My weapon is a Geisha fan, I can't do any harm!"

"You're lying!" He pulled the switchblade back, cutting into my hands deeper, and lashed out at me again.

Though I was in severe pain, I decided to try to defend myself again. I caught the blade again and tried to wrestle the knife away from Kyo, but my hands were covered in blood and I had no grip because of it. Somehow, though, I managed to turn the blade around without him noticing and as it slipped out of my hands, and he pulled back, he stabbed himself in the chest right next to his heart.

I hit my back off of the same wall as before again and slid to the ground; this time the pain wasn't so bad as my main concern was my hands. I was the baseball star of Shiroiwa Junior High, but what could I do with cut up hands…?

Coming back to my senses about the situation, I looked over at Kyo, who had collapsed on the ground. He was dead, I was certain of it, and I didn't have to go to him to see. And, I wasn't going to. Like I said, my main concern was my hands, I had to get them bandaged.

I slowly stood up, dropping my pack, and turned towards the door of the house I had been leaning against. I couldn't risk getting the cuts infected, so I kicked the door as hard as I could until it fell down with a loud crash. I could see the sink ahead, along with some bandages someone had laid out. Someone must've been injured and come here last night, but hopefully they're long gone.

Without looking around, I walked forward to the sink. My first thoughts were to the clean and bandage the cuts. After that, I'd go outside and salvage the switchblade Kyo had killed himself with. But as I entered the kitchen, there was a scream and I saw the pale white face and short black hair of Kaoru Hiroi (Female Student Number 18) before even glancing at the chain scythe that came flying towards my neck. I felt it as it entered my skin, but that was all.

**32 Students Remaining**

_F#3 Yuki Oniki_

_M#2 Kyo Aramaki_

_M#5 Hideaki Sugimura_


	6. Chapter 6

~Chapter 6~

_~Kirie Nanahara (Female Student Number 12) POV~_

I looked back again at Yuiko as she sat inside of the shrine crying in front of incense that she was burning for Takeshi. I was amazed that she would continue to cry like that even though the danger was apparent. About half an hour ago, we heard more gunshots coming from the southeast, but neither of us even wanted to move towards it. I mean, really, our weapons weren't all that great. Yuiko got a small pocketknife, and I got a meat cleaver. We checked our bags as soon as we got to the shrine. I found it strange that we both got bladed weapons, but shook it off to go burn some incense.

Now she was burning incense, and I was waiting for her to get done crying so that we could come up with a battle plan.

I sighed and switched the cleaver from one hand to the other. While waiting for her, I was on watch for anyone who might attack us. Though the only sounds I've heard since the game began was the sound of gunshots far away.

"Okay," Yuiko sniffed and walked over to me, "I'm done."

I smiled sadly at her as she sat next to me, wiping the tears from her face. "You'll be okay."

"No…I won't." With bloodshot eyes, she looked over at me. "I don't wanna be part of this fucked up game."

"Takeshi wouldn't want you to die though. You should help me avenge him; I'm sure we can find whoever killed him."

"If they haven't already been killed…"

"Then we won't have to worry about that." I wrapped one arm reassuringly around her shoulders. "Don't worry, you'll live through this, I'll see to it."

"I don't even wanna do this! I don't wanna kill!"

"Then leave it to me." I smiled; though a little sickened by my own comment. "I'll even kill myself in the end for you, my best friend."

That didn't help at all; she pushed me away. "No! I don't wanna watch you kill, and I don't want you to take your own life for me! I just wanna be with Takeshi!"

I sighed and shook my head. Maybe she'd come around later on whenever she realized that staying alive for Takeshi's memory was for the best. I stood up and grabbed our packs. "Okay then, but do you want something to eat?" I looked back at her, and saw her staring at the pocketknife in her lap. "Yuiko?"

_~Yuiko Hino (Female Student Number 19) POV~_

Takeshi… Takeshi… Takeshi… Takeshi… How could you die? Why did you die? Oh God, I wanna be with you again!

As Kirie tried to comfort me by saying she'd help me live by killing everyone and then herself, I felt a degree of disgust. How could she suggest that? I would hate to kill, but I would hate to watch it even more. I wanna be with Takeshi, but I wanna avenge him first, like Kirie said to. I looked down at the small pocketknife that had been in my pack.

"Yuiko?" I looked up at Kirie's eyes. I could see that she had just asked me a question, but I had no idea what.

"What was that?"

"Do you want to eat?"

"Um, yeah. Thanks." Even though I said that, I wasn't really hungry. I just wanted her to turn her back long enough for me to kill her. Even though she was my friend, she didn't seem as shaken up by Takeshi's death as I was, and that made me suspect that she had something to do with it.

As she was rummaging through our bags, trying to get to the bread, I got behind her and raised the pocketknife over my head. I'm sorry, my friend, but I must avenge my boyfriend.

Before I could bring my pocketknife down on her back, though, a silver tipped arrow flew towards me and hit me in the stomach.

_~Kirie Nanahara (Female Student Number 12) POV~_

I heard something fly past the top of my head and hit something else with a soft _thump_. A moment later, I heard something fall to the ground. When I turned to see what it was, I saw Yuiko standing behind me with an arrow sticking out of her stomach, and her mouth wide open in shock.

My eyes were as wide as they could possibly get. "Y-Yuiko?"

She looked down next to her foot, and I looked there too. Lying there in the grass was her pocketknife. She tried to reach for it, but another arrow came from behind me and struck her in the chest. When that one hit her, she fell backwards, her eyes and mouth still open.

I crawled next to her and shook her body. "Yuiko! Yuiko? Yuiko…! Yuiko! Wake up!" I grabbed her wrist and tried to find a pulse, but couldn't. She was dead.

I shook my head and fell back onto my butt, trying to comprehend what I just saw. My friend had been shot arrows into her stomach and chest, and she had obviously been trying to reach for her pocketknife the first time she had been "shot." But…why? I looked down at my hands and saw her blood there, my eyes widened at the sight.

"Kirie." I turned around and grabbed Yuiko's pocketknife in self-defense; my cleaver was on the edge of the shrine floor. Out from in between two trees came Yasuhiro. His face was covered in dirt and mud, and in his hands was a crossbow, but he still held the same expression on his face as ever. Only, this time, there was a twist of relief in it.

"Y-Yasuhiro?" I stood up and sidestepped to my cleaver and grabbed it without thought. He killed Yuiko! "Why? Why did you kill her?"

"She was trying to kill you, Kirie, I had to!" He walked towards me.

"Stay back, murderer!" I took a step back for each he took towards me. I didn't want to be near him now that I was sure he was playing this game.

"Kirie, stop!" He pointed the crossbow in my direction.

Without listening to him even a little, I turned and ran. As I did, I heard another arrow fly past my head and hit another person who had been hiding in the bushes. I stopped to see who it was, and saw Hiro Miname (Male Student Number 7) lying on the ground with an arrow sticking out of his face, the arrow and blood nearly obscuring it. I looked and saw a handgun in his now dead hand and grabbed it before running again. Maybe Hiro was trying to kill me, but I couldn't believe that Yuiko was trying to…no, never.

_~Izumi Kagami (Female Student Number 9) POV~_

"Just a little further, Misora," I said through gasps of breath. I had a bullet wound in my left shoulder from when Yuki shot me. Luckily, I maneuvered perfectly to where the bullet missed any vital areas, but it hurt like hell.

Whenever I had Yuki pinned with my spear, she pointed her handgun at me to try to kill me. I sliced her open with the spear by dragging it up, completely through her heart, but not before she shot me in the arm. I managed to convince Misora that Hiro Miname had killed Yuki, and I threw my spear at him in an attempt to fend him off. I also took Yuki's gun, holding it in my right hand – it hurts when I even so much as hold it in my left.

Now, me and Misora were far away from the area I killed Yuki in. We were just north of the southern mountain, in sector G-3, and we were heading north. I knew how I was going to kill Misora, and it was flawless, especially considering her stupidity. She hadn't even looked at the map since I told her specifically where we're going, and she hadn't asked why. Whether it was stupidity, or the want to see Yuki alive again, I don't know, but she wasn't being rational. Most would've asked why we were going only one sector south of a place that would be a forbidden zone in twenty minutes.

"Hey, Misora, are you okay?" I looked over at her as we walked along. It didn't bother me so much that she seemed sad; it's just boring without someone to talk to.

Misora blinked and looked over at me, nodding her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, I'm just trying to…I guess wrap my head around Yuki's death. I mean, we're the only two left of our group now."

I looked at the map and saw we were crossing into sector F-3. There was a river at the northeastern part of the sector – we would stop there. I looked at my watch; still fifteen minutes before sector E-3 became a forbidden zone. We'll make it just in time, and hopefully Misora's still in her little state of half unconsciousness.

"Yeah, we are." I looked over at Misora when I noticed her expression changed to curiosity as I looked at the map. "Yeah?"

"Are we almost there? I'm…hungry." As if on cue, her stomach growled loudly.

"Have you not eaten yet?"

She shook her head. "I was going to whenever I met up with Yuki, but I was so scared that I was going to die, that every time I tried to eat, I felt like I was going to be sick. Now that I'm with you, for some reason, I feel a lot better."

"That's okay, just a few more minutes and we'll be there."

"Okay. So, where're we going?"

"There's a river about five minutes north of where we are right now. We're going there, and we might stay there a while yet. It'd be a good place to bunker down for a while, plus there's a house nearby whenever we feel like moving."

"Why don't we just go to the house then?"

I thought for a moment, I really hadn't thought about what to tell her if she asked about that. "Well, with my injured arm, I won't be able to fire this gun accurately if anyone is inside the house. And, no offense, but you don't seem like someone who would try to kill someone for a warm bed."

Misora smiled nervously. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Besides, being next to a river gives us the chance to fill our water bottles back up."

"Exactly." I smiled at her and looked back at the map. We were only a little bit from the river, and the opposite edge of this sector. Actually, I can already hear the river.

"Izumi!" She smiled widely. "We made it to the river!" She was really happy, and even dragged me along running the rest of the way to the river.

When she stopped near the edge of the river, I could see the house diagonal from this sector clearly. And knowing it was closer to the western part of its sector, I could easily judge that about ten yards away was sector E-3. I looked at my watch; still nine minutes before it became a forbidden zone. Oh well, might as well tell her to have her last lunch.

I sat down on the bank of the river, facing the direction I would have her go in. "Hey, Misora, why don't you try to eat now that we're here."

Misora looked at me and nodded. She walked over to me and grabbed her bread from her pack before sitting across from me. She took a bite out of the dry bread and sighed in relief. "I don't feel sick."

"That's good, but keep eating." I pulled out my own loaf of bread and bit into it. Nasty! I could see why this would make someone feel sick. Once she's dead, I'm definitely looking for some rice inside of a house to boil.

She finished her bread in only a few minutes, leaving five minutes before the zone became forbidden. I nibbled on my bread, and made small talk with her until there was only two minutes before the zone became forbidden.

I sat my bread aside and pulled out some rope I had found in a farm coop just south of the school last night. When Misora asked what it was for, I said, "Could you go over there," I pointed directly in front of where I was sitting, "and tie this to two trees like a primitive alarm? I was going to have you do it earlier, but it slipped my mind."

"Sure. How far out?"

"About ten yards, maybe a little farther."

"Okay." She stood up and ran over to just inside of sector E-3 to tie the rope. She had left her shotgun behind, lucky me.

I stood up and followed her, stopping a few yards away from the border of the zones. I looked at my watch – twenty seconds. "Hey, Misora, there's something I have to tell you."

"Hmm?"

"I killed Yuki, not Hiro." She looked at me in horror. "And you're officially in a forbidden zone."

Her eyes got wide and she tried to run towards me, but it was too late. Her collar exploded, sending her blood flying at me, and her body collapsed forward to the ground.

I smiled wildly at her and turned around, sitting next to where she left her shotgun. "One less obstacle out of the way. I wonder who my next target should be."

**29 Students Remaining**

_F19 Yuiko Hino_

_M7 Hiro Miname_

_F8 Misora Kitano_


	7. Chapter 7

~Chapter 7~

_~Kaoru Hiroi (Female Student Number 18) POV~_

I slipped out the backdoor of the house I had been hiding in since the start of the game quietly. When I saw Hideaki Sugimura come in with his hands covered in blood, I knew he was deranged, and that he had to die. It was more of a mercy killing really; if I hadn't killed him, he would've gone insane. I'm not a murderer, right?

Slicing his neck open with the chain scythe that had come in my pack had been easy enough, but sitting there watching it bleed out for over an hour had been too much. I grabbed my pack and chain scythe, and left. There were more houses I could hide in, even the one next door, but I decided to go down a few houses just to get away from Hideaki's corpse.

Four houses down, near forbidden zone H-9, was the house I decided to hide in. I didn't figure anyone would be hiding inside of it since it was so close to a forbidden zone, but I didn't realize I was wrong until the glass backdoor slid open and one of the boys jumped out of the house.

As I blocked the wakizashi that he used to try to kill me with the chain connecting the two scythes of my weapon, I saw his face. Pale, angelic, rounded, with eyes green as a field, and short, upturned hair black as night. It was Hideki Takei (Male Student Number 16), my long-time crush. It was because of him that I cut my once long beautiful black hair short to make myself more resemble a boy. It wasn't too much difficulty with my flat chest and boyish features, but because of the uniform, I could never win him over. It was because, even though a lot of girls in our class had a crush on him, he was gay.

"H-Hideki! Stop!" I kicked him on his thigh, causing him to lose his footing. But as he fell, he drove his wakizashi into my thigh. I fell to one knee, and he pulled the blade out of my thigh, making me scream.

He pointed the wakizashi at my nose. "Not a real opponent like I thought you would be. Not like Soichiro was."

My eyes widen as I just now noticed the dried blood on his uniform. I knew who he was talking about: Soichiro Tsuda (Male Student Number 11). Soichiro was only one of two conservative Christians in our class, and often bashed Hideki for being gay. It seemed that Hideki finally got his revenge on Soichiro for the last few years of torment.

"Hideki please let me go." I didn't want to die, but I could see the bloodlust in his eyes; he loved the rush of killing someone, the same rush I rejected.

"Why should I? Fight for your life…and see if you're worth it." He raised the wakizashi above his head to strike me down, but I blocked with the chain again, this time wrapping it around the blade and pulling the wakizashi away from him.

"That's what I gotta do, fine!" I stood up and held a scythe in one hand as I spun the other around by the chain. He backed up a few steps, and I threw the scythe at him, carried by the momentum of it being spun.

Somehow, though, he caught the scythe by its handle. Hideki chuckled. "What do you know? Never would've thought that would work."

"Shit!" I tried pulling it away from him, but all he did was laugh.

"You want it back? Let me give it to you." He ran towards me with the blade of the scythe aimed at my chest.

Seeing nothing else I could do but die, I ran at him with the other scythe poised to strike his chest. We met almost perfectly in the middle and thrust each scythe into the other's chest. My strike had been closer to his heart, so he fell back first, as my vision began to fade. But as he fell backwards, I fell forward and pushed the blade deeper into my chest.

_~Ryoko Mitsuki (Female Student Number 16) POV~_

I hid behind a tree and gulped as quietly as I could as Watari Watanabe (Male Student Number 19) continued to pursue me. I guess I should be grateful that I had just enough martial arts practice from some high school friends to learn to be silent in a wooded area, it made it harder for him to find me.

Normally, I wouldn't be hiding like this, after all, he just has a hatchet, but my weapon ended up being a pot lid. And even then, all I could do was defend. Regardless of that, though, there was already a huge hole cut through it where I initially defended myself with it from Watari's hatchet.

I looked at my map and saw that the northern cliffs weren't too far away; if this pursuit went any further north, I'd have to jump into the water to escape him. But normally, the water by a cliffy region is extremely deadly and dangerous. Damn!

"Oh Ryoko…!" I stiffened as I heard Watari's voice near. This was bad, really bad. He was catching on to me quickly, and would turn out to be deadly if I didn't do something soon. "Come out, come out, like a good little girl…!"

Without another thought, I ran forward, not even bothering to stay quiet this time. I realized that regardless of what I did here and now, I was going to die sooner than later. I could hear him running behind me, gaining on me. This was going to end very soon, and not with his death, but not on his terms.

I reached the edge of the northern cliffs and turned around to face him. He was breathing heavily though he still carried that sadistic smile on his face that had me running in the first place. I clenched my jaw as I prepared to do what I had to. I'd left my pack behind in the panic, and I had no idea which way to go even if I did somehow live through this.

"End of the line, Ryoko." Watari took a step towards me. "It's time to let me cut open that body of yours."

After a moment to let my mind and heart decided that jumping was the best idea, I looked at him and smirked. "You will never cut me open."

"You've no where to run, my dear. Just accept that you will die by my wonderful hand."

I hate him, I really do. "You will never cut me open, and I will never die by your terms!" Finding the edge of the cliff with my foot, I jumped backwards and threw my pot lid at him like a Frisbee. "Go to hell!"

As gravity took over, I closed my eyes and let the waves take me as I hit the water.

_~Yasuhiro Watsuki (Male Student Number 20) POV~_

I sighed softly as I leaned back against the brick wall outside of the house where Kirie was resting. She had no idea I had followed her all the way to this house just east of a forbidden zone, and just northeast from where I could see Izumi Kagami relaxing near the river. Luckily, she couldn't see me, and had no idea that Kirie was inside this house, otherwise, she would've probably struck by now. After all, I had watched her trick Misora Kitano into sector E-3 just as it became a forbidden zone, killing Misora.

I should count my blessings that neither girl had discovered me. Both would've, without a doubt, killed me. Izumi, just because she seemed to be a coldhearted bitch, and Kirie because she didn't trust me since I saved her from Yuiko and Hiro. She had taken Hiro's weapon as she ran from me, but that was all I saw before I quietly followed her here.

I'm sure Kirie's guessed by now that I was in last year's program. But I won't tell her anything about it, even if she asked. It was far more gruesome than what I have seen of this one so far. Since we were in the Kobe region, we were placed on a mountaintop. Because of the cold, everyone wanted to leave as quickly as possible. It barely lasted two days, and I came out the winner only because I killed my best friend when we were the last two left.

I sighed again and hung my head in time to hear Beethoven begin to play over the PA system. I grabbed my map and list of classmates out from my pack, and waited for the noon announcement to begin. I had already marked off Yuiko and Hiro from my list once I got settled into this bush that I've been hiding in since I followed Kirie here.

"Good afternoon everyone!" Sakamochi's cheerful voice about this whole thing was enough to make a guy gag. "How is everyone doing this afternoon? Hey, how about, while I make the announcement, everyone takes a break from killing and grabs a bite to eat for lunch, huh? Now, for the list of the deceased. First, the boys: Number two, Kyo Aramaki. Number five, Hideaki Sugimura. Number seven, Hiro Miname. Number eleven, Soichiro Tsuda. Number sixteen, Hideki Takei." She took a breath. "Now, the girls: Number three, Yuki Oniki. Number eight, Misora Kitano. Number sixteen, Ryoko Mitsuki. Number eighteen, Kaoru Hiroi. And number nineteen, Yuiko Hino. Total of ten.

"Now, I'd like to remind everyone to be careful. Misora Kitano was caught in a forbidden zone, and her collar blew up because of that. Promise me that everyone else won't make that same mistake. Okay, good. Now for the new forbidden zones. At one, I-8. At three, C-4. And at five, H-8. Okay then everyone, until six."

Once the announcement was over, I sighed at the list of the deceased. Almost half of our class had killed each other off. Granted, I did kill Tohru Kiryu, Yuiko Hino, and Hiro Miname, but there were so many others that died. And I can only imagine how Misora must've felt when she realized Izumi, her friend, lured her into that forbidden zone to die. It's almost like I can see my old friend again as I sliced his throat open.

Oh well, at least me and Kirie weren't in any potential forbidden zone, so we didn't have to move yet. At least, that's what I believed.

The front door opened slowly, and Kirie ran out of the house and to the east. She must've seen Izumi sitting near the river, and wanted to get away.

I stood up and followed after her quietly. Even if she didn't trust me, I was going to protect her because I loved her.

**25 Students Remaining**

_M11 Soichiro Tsuda_

_M16 Hideki Takei_

_F18 Kaoru Hiroi_

_F16 Ryoko Mitsuki_


End file.
